Ok, so I've just completed Dante must die mode in DmC
E with little to no problems. I remember DMC3, back in the day, kicking my ass on the highest difficulty but maybe that's what gods must die is there for. Just wasn't expecting it to be that easy in comparison to other character action games I've played. I now have played more than enough to give my thoughts on the game:
Pros:
- great environment art style
- good UI/lock on presentation
- movable camera is amazing albeit a bit slow for the pace of the game but you can centre camera easily with a button press.
- hardcore and turbo mode makes the balancing more in line with the old games but still a bit easy for vets of the genre.
- loved traversing the levels with triple Angel evade and glides.
- mixing Angel/normal/demon styles and switching weapons whilst juggling multiple enemies felt very satisfying. Could have used one more weapon in each style but I still feel the combat system is great and has a good amount of depth to it.
Neutral/Cons:
- lower skill ceiling than dmc3 and 4 but I think it's still far better than most if not all western character action games and that for most people the game has a surprising amount of depth.
- demon pull/Angel pull whilst fun makes it incredibly easy to stay in the air, don't even need jump cancelling for the most the part.
- whilst there has been rebalancing from the original version (which thankfully I haven't played) I still feel that some weapons like Aquila are too good for most situations. Demon evade whilst nerfed is still incredibly useful and feels satisfying due to the slow-mo.
- gaining quick style ranks is far more dependant on damage done rather than switching weapons and varying combos. Demon evade into arbiter combo gives an insane amount of style points even though I don't consider it to be or look very stylish.
- colour coded enemies restrict the weapon and style set at your disposable. While they still are damaged, the fact that they can't be juggled with off colour weapons is disappointing. Even worse is that they have no hit reactions to off colour weapons and reminds me of the lack of hit feedback that I get from spectacle action games like God of war.
- bosses are uninspired and laughably easy.
- story and characters are horrible imo. While I don't expect much of anything from character action game stories, I appreciated the silliness and nonsense in the ninja gaiden games and older DMCs. This is just crass for the most part. Can't skip cutscenes fast enough.
- doesn't really feel like a DMC game in terms of story and atmosphere but that's subjective.
While my quick list of cons may seem to outweigh the pros I still think that the definitive edition is a great action game and certainly one of the best western action games I've played in terms of combat mechanics. Games like god of war are a fun romp and I love them for the scale and presentation but lack any noteworthy combat depth even at their highest difficulty.
Having a look at the extensive change log from the original to DE makes me appreciate that they listened to feedback and made a great feeling and playing game in the end. I feel as though this a far better re-release than ninja gaiden 3:razors edge, although having played vanilla NG3 may have just left such a bad taste that it may have coloured my impression of the razors edge. I have more nostalgia and emotional investment for ninja gaiden black (a game that I still play yearly) and just felt utterly betrayed by everything in NG3, after they seemingly wanted to chase after the god of war market and failed at even doing that decently. Razors edge brought back UT and OTs which was good but I felt as though there was an input delay not present in previous titles and relies too heavily on steel-on-bone mechanics.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give my thoughts on what I consider a genuinely good game. Regardless, glad to come back to character action games after a while and looking forward to playing as Vergil. I will probably go for the platinum as well seeing as I've already got a couple of SSS ranks without really trying (albeit they were for boss chapters).
Any tips for playing as Vergil? Looking into metal gear rising next after finishing up with DmC. Was a big fan of Bayonetta and it looks to have similar combat mechanics but I may be mistaken.
